Rodney Barnes

Rod has established a career as a performer, teacher, arranger and entrepreneur with a special interest in jazz. Trained as a classical clarinet player, Rod adapted quickly to saxophone and drew on the influence of Benny Goodman, Stan Getz and Don Burrows.

Early experience in bands developed his skills of transcribing and arranging. He put these to good use first in leading bands for New Life Singers and then in his own acclaimed big band Sophisticated Swing. These experiences led him to coordinate other outfits such as the sax quartet, Sax Blue, and student big bands such as Sophisticats. He currently leads The Dungeon Big Band, a 17-piece professional band playing festivals, concerts and corporate events around NSW.

As a teacher, Rod has developed his own teaching methods for both classical and jazz. Rod also conducts workshops for schools and tertiary institutions.

"I've had a love affair with my clarinet for 50 years. I can remember seeing an ad in a Music Maker magazine for a clarinet, and being instantly drawn to it. Then I heard recordings of people like Benny Goodman and Woody Herman, and was lucky enough to see Don Burrows perform live."

"I’ve had the absolute privilege of playing all types of music – orchestral, chamber, solo, jazz, big band, and even playing baritone sax in my son and daughter's rock bands!"

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